Edinburgh Zoo wants you to get close to its animals, discovers Deborah Punshon

Deborah Punshon

It’s not everyday you feed a two-ton rhino or make dinner for a family of hungry armadillos.

It’s also a bit unusual to have penguins peck at your wellies as they wait impatiently to be fed.

But those who have been honorary zoo keepers for the day at Edinburgh Zoo will know how it feels, and the staff hope more people will take up the offer.

Keeper experiences have been running at Edinburgh Zoo since February 2012, offering – for a price – an opportunity to see animals in a different light.

With a range of different options, the experiences give people the chance to get up close with animals they otherwise wouldn’t, learn more about them and the opportunity to financially support them.

Like the money raised through admissions and memberships, proceeds from keeper experiences goes towards fulfilling the zoo’s charitable mission of “safeguarding species from extinction and connecting people with nature”.

This includes areas like animal welfare, education, new site developments, plus funding conservation work here in Scotland and in more than 20 countries around the world.

“Keeper experiences give our visitors the opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Zoo and see what life is like for our keepers and the animals they care for,” said Jo Paulson, events and experiences manager.

“The direct connection they experience with our animals is the kind of memory that lasts a lifetime.

“It will also hopefully inspire an even greater awareness of wider conservation and environmental issues.

“Keeper experiences provide our animals with another form of positive enrichment, providing further mental and physical stimulation specific to each species’ requirements.”

But how does it work? My visit, led by zoo keeper Aime Wilson, began with the pandas, the creatures responsible for a 40 per cent rise in visitor numbers.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang, now half way through their 10-year loan from China, are the first pandas to live in the UK for over 17 years.